IDA lauds record-breaking FDI employment

The IDA is lauding a record-breaking year, after 2015 saw a 66pc rise in foreign direct investment (FDI) job creation, with total employment from this area topping out at 187,056.

Claiming that one-in-five of all private sector jobs now rely on IDA-supported FDI companies, CEO of the Irish body, Martin Shanahan, said the importance of companies moving into Ireland “has never been larger”.

Shanahan also lauded a “broad-based performance”, with the whole of the country, seemingly, feeling the benefit.

A net rise of 12,000 jobs through companies backed by the IDA in 2015 came on the back of a rise in actual investments, 213 last year as opposed to 197 in 2014.

“Many of the projects won in 2015 were capital intensive, and provided strong additional benefits beyond the jobs themselves,” said Shanahan.

“IDA’s performance is the result of hard work by IDA’s global team, including the 35 new staff that joined the organisation under the Winning Abroad initiative in the last year.”

Talent pool beyond our borders

Job loss rates were at their lowest ever, according to the IDA, which once again cited the talent pool in Ireland as a key attraction for major companies.

The talent pool is something that is never detailed in its entirety, so, for those who think it means there are loads of graduates coming through the Irish education system that satisfy industries like science, technology or the likes, you’re wrong.

What is more likely is there is a finite number of indigenous workers that satisfy part of employers’ needs, with additional access to a labour market far and wide thanks to complementary, yet unrelated, international labour agreements.

The IDA suggests that the level of job creation is actually 70pc higher than the figures provided, with indirect employment bringing it all up to 318,000 (thus, the one-in-five private sector positions).

Not just a capital calling

The regional breakdown is quite interesting, actually, with 59pc of the total IDA-client employment coming outside of Dublin – a slightly lower rate of 53pc relates to jobs announced in 2015.

Facebook’s Meath expansion, Apple’s Galway move (300 jobs), Pramerica’s continued investment in Donegal (330) and Regeneron’s $350m investment in Limerick (220) were highlights in the year outside of the capital, while the likes of Alexion Pharmaceuticals (200 jobs and 800 in construction) and Slack (100) in Dublin were also notable throughout the year.

The IDA reported that two-thirds of all corporation tax payments in Ireland came from their clients, with the biggest corporate tax year on record replicating the overall performance.

“There has been a very strong pipeline of new investments over the past 18 months and we can see from today’s figures that multinationals are adding headcount at a high rate – which suggests a strong uplift in activity,” added Shanahan.

Gordon joined Silicon Republic in October 2014 as a journalist, moving on to pastures new in August 2017.
Unafraid of heights or spiders, Gordon spends most of his time avoiding conversations about music, appreciating even the least creative pun and rueing the day he panicked when meeting Paul McGrath.
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